Miner&#39;s lamp.



A. L. TOMBELAINB.

MINERS LAMP.

APPLIUATION FILED 1120.15, 1911.

. Patented Mar.4, 1913.

Inventor. A

Witnesses. 2. n

cuLUMulA PLANCGRAPH co..w^smNuTcN. D. CY

UNITEDv `STATES iPATENT ALEXANDRE LEONARD ToMBEL-AINE, orVILLANUOVA-MINAS, SPAIN.

MINERS'y LAMP. Y

Specifcationrof Letters Patent.

Application filed December 15., 1911. Serial No. 665,884.

The present invention relates to. an im-` proved safety acetylene lampfor miners. t

The lamp comprises a gas generator 1n combination with rigid screenswhich are formed by providing on the interior and exterior of a cylindergrooves which by their intersection form apertures serving for thepassage of the gases.

In the accompanying drawing z-Figure 1 shows the lamp in axial section.Fig. 2 is a section on the line A-A in Fig. 1.

The gas generator consists of two receptacles 1 and 5 which arecylindrical and concentric. The receptacle 1 holds the water and thereceptacle 5, the calcium carbid. The water reservoir 1 is providedatits lower part-with a threaded plug 2 and at its upper part withopenings 3 used for charging it with water by immersion; the saidopenings being coveredby a leather band 4. The receptacle containing thecalcium carbid has a threaded ring 6 fixed to its upper part and can beclosed hermetically by the cover 7. A conical valve 10 is fixed in thecenter of the bottom of tank 5, said valve being provided with a spring11 and a felt washer 9. i y

A rod 12 carried byl the plugQ passes through the valve and projectsinto the valve casing 13 upon which the burner 8 isV mounted. The airenters the interior of the lamp through "an annular space 14 formed bythe outer crown 15, which screws on the cover 7, and the inner crown 16.The latter crown is provided on its interior and exterior with grooveswhichfby their intersect-ion form apertures for the admission of air.This air' moves along the cover 7 and then ascends through a series ofvertical openings 17 bored in aburner plate 18 which surrounds theburner 8. The crown 16 is rigid and of an unchangeable shape; itdoesnotoverheat owing to its thickness and the large cooling surface causedby the grooves. Further, it is subjected to but lit- 'nary gauzescreens. trated in Fig. 1 two screens are `arranged 1n tle wear and itsefliciency as regards the passave of the flame is far greater than thata orded by thevordinary wire gauze. The plate V18 also has a largecooling surface. The apertures 17 insure safety and they eilt,

ciently reduce the act-ion which currents of air, traveling at a highkvelocityfhave von the flame. The flame 1s surrounded by a glass chimney19 inside which a thin mica.

chimney (not shown) can be so arranged as to prevent the breakage of theglass cylinder. The volume of the combustion chamber has kbeen reducedto a minimum and thus a perfectly safe device is` obtained. Two sleeves20, `mounted on top of the glass `chimney 19, are constructed in asimilar lway to that of crown 16. They are made up by metal lcylindersin the two walls of which. grooves'are formed. For example,

`helicoidal grooves 20-are cut on theinner side and verticalgrooves suchas 2O1 are cut on the outer side; the intersections of thesev groovesform a large number of small openings. The path followed by .the groovesmay vary, it may be circular, rectilinear, helicoidal and so forth. Thersecurity `affordedby a single screen of this .kind is,

much greater than in the'case with two vordi-` In the example illussucha manner as to permit the lighting by an electric spark withoutthepassage of the flame through a 10% gaseous mixture of *air andacetylene,'that is to say, with the maximum explosibility and speed ofpropaga-v 'y tion. y

The lamp works in the following manner: The calcium carbid is placed inthe receptacle 5; by immersing the receptacle `1 as far as the openings3. The part between Patented Mar. 4, 1913. y

ymi

1 and 5 is filledk with water which passing through theopenings 24 fillsthe felt washer. The passage of water can be regulated by means of lt-heplug 2 and spring 11 of the conical valve 10. The regulation of theHame, so as to obtain a small flame necessary for detecting liredamp,canbe effected without dil'liculty, this `adjustment being done by meansof a pin 12 which passes through the guide valve 10. The felt washer 9is made of such dimensions that when the valve 10 is fully opened theflame does not closed, but, as moisture is retained in the carbid, a fewseconds will elapse before the flame is lowered thus constituting aninconvenience for detecting firedamp at a given moment. In order toobviate this inconvenience it is only necessary to continue to turn theplug 2, which, after having closed the valve l0 causes the pin l2 toenter the recess 13, interrupt the discharge of gas through the burnerand gradually reduces the flame. Although the admission of water isintercepted by the valve 10, a small quantity of gas continues to formowing to the moisture of the carbid. In order to avoid an increase ofpressure in the inner receptacle, the valve lO is arranged in such amanner that it can rise slightly from its seat and permit the passage ofthe slight excess of gas which then issues through the apertures 3 inlifting the leather band il, which acts as a safety valve. It should benoted that with the normal light, the plug 2 is hardly used; the gasregulates the admission of the water by its own pressure inside thecarbid receptacle. The regulating pin and the spring are employedparticularly for detecting iredamp and for extinguishing the lampinstantaneously. To prevent the miner tampering wit-'h the working partsof the lamp, the upper crown 15 has a series of apertures 2l perforatedalong its periphery and when screwed home one of these apertures willcoincide with a recess 23 made in the lower crown 22. lVhen this is donemolten lead or any other metal can be poured in and make the lockingsecure. This seal can be afterward broken or remelted by someappropriate tool.

I claim l. In a miners lamp, a screen comprising a rigid member providedwith apertures formed by the intersection of interior and exteriorgrooves in said member.

2. In a miners lamp, a screen comprising a rigid member provided withapertures formed-by interior and exterior' grooves intersect-ingsubstantially at right angles to each other.

8. In a miners lamp, a screen comprising a suitably shaped memberprovided with apertures formed by the intersection of grooves on theinterior and exterior faces of said member. l

4. A screen for miners lamps and the like, comprising an annularsleeve-like member provided with apertures formed by the intersection ofsubstantially circumferential grooves on one face of said member andsubstantially axial grooves on the other face thereof.

5. In a miners lamp, `a sleeve-like screen provided with aperturesformed by the intersection of interior and exterior grooves, and aburner plate forming'a closure to said sleeve-like screen, said burnerplate provided with openings for the passage therethrough of the airadmitted through the screen.

6. In a miners lamp, a screen the apertures of which are formed by theintersection of interior and exterior sets of grooves or recesses, thegrooves of one set being substantially axial and the grooves of theother Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, byaddressing the Commissionere of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

